Guardian 24,934 / Rufus
It’s Monday. A classic Rufus puzzle. No further preamble necessary. Across 1 CRUMBS: cryptic definition: ‘Crumbs’ and Crikey’ were two favourite expressions of Billy Bunter, the ‘Fat Owl of the Remove’, in the … Read more >>
Private Eye/Cyclops 410 – Berlusconi blunder
Blunder on my part that is as I find that yet again my pen writes the letters for down answers in the wrong order. May be it’s the ink that can’t spell. 3D … Read more >>
Azed 1967 – playing fairly
So far as I can discover, this is the first Playfair competition puzzle for around two years, the last having been 1804, which must have been in December 2007 (probably the Christmas competition) … Read more >>
Everyman 3306
Well I think the obvious feature of this one is all the compound solutions. Personally I think these are fun, but that they make the whole thing much easier (the more words they … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations 900 Times Were A-Changin’ by Jaques
Just over three years and three months ago I wrote this blog. I think it was my first for Fifteensquared. Since that Independent puzzle I have blogged the Guardian, Everyman, Azed, Inquisitor and … Read more >>
Guardian 24,927 (Sat 6 Feb)/Paul – Not a pretty site
Solving time: About 8 mins This was fairly straightforward but took me longer than it should have because of the redesigned website. First impressions were not sparkling but I see this has been … Read more >>
New Blogger Wanted
A new blogger is wanted for the EV. If anyone is interested please contact: admin {at} fifteensquared {dot} net Thanks.
Beelzebub 1,042 (07/02/10)
A slightly strange one for me, racing through all but a handful unhindered and thus unaided, struggling on a few more, and finally finding myself absolutely stumped at 21dn, for which I’ve reproduced … Read more >>
Guardian 24,932 – Gordius
Nothing very troublesome from Gordius today. Across 1 TRAFFIC (Craft if)*. Nice &lit 5 SUSTAIN STAIN around US 9 IVY LEAGUE (i.e. vaguely)*, i.e.=”that is” 10 PILOT I=”one” in PLOT 11 LAMP L[arge] … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,308 / Viking
After a series of easy Fridays, a tough one from Viking with some fine clues. The bottom-right corner was the last to fall, with 21a/21d causing much perplexity before the ‘aha’ moments came. … Read more >>
Independent 7273 by Nimrod, Sat 6 Feb – Serendipity strikes again …
… or so said Nimrod by e-mail when it turned out that I’d found an extra bit of thematic material. Solving time: 11:27 A fairly easy but well-crafted example of the multi-cross-reference puzzle … Read more >>
Independent 7,278 by Phi
All very good as usual. I enjoyed the four long entries around the perimeter, the solving of each one in turn greatly helping to fill another quarter of the grid. My one slip … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1111: First XV by Eddie
When I learned that The Inquisitor numbers were changing to what they would have been if they had gone sequentially from 1, I wondered if the editor had something up his sleeve for … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,307 /Hamilton
My first encounter with Hamilton, although our search archive suggests that he/she has appeared at least a couple of times before in previous months (perhaps Gaufrid can induct Hamilton into our setters’ Roll … Read more >>
Independent 7277 by Punk
A joy to solve from this talented setter, showing puzzles don’t have to be hard to be good. Maybe because I saw quite a few of the answers from the definitions and emerging … Read more >>